|
Over the weekend, the House Committee on Science and Technology took a Congressional Delegation trip to Greenland. The purpose of the trip was for the members of the Committee to see first-hand the impacts of global warming on Greenland.
The trip started late Thursday night, July 19th after votes concluded. In fact, I had time after last votes about 9 p.m. to grab a sandwich and go to my apartment, a few blocks from the Capitol, to pick up some items for the trip.
At about 11 p.m., a bus picked us up and transported us to Andrews Air Force Base, where a C-40C transport plane was waiting. We boarded and were airborne at about midnight for the 4-hour flight to Greenland. Greenland is two hours east, so we landed at Kangerlussuaq at about 6 a.m. It was already light when we landed because Kangerlussuaq is just above the Arctic Circle and it doesn’t get dark this time of year.
The approach to the airfield was forbidding. We flew in over a tan-colored glacier, with what looked like a small bit of water snaking over sandy soil. The surrounding hills appeared green, to be sure, but also barren. There were no trees and any vegetation was very close to the ground. This is tundra country.
On the trip were 10 Members of Congress, six Science Committee staff members, and several military escorts. We were also joined by Dr. Arden Bement, the Administrator of the National Science Foundation. I hadn’t known Dr. Bement, but he knew who I was and he knew I was a PhD Mathematician. The other Members of Congress were: Bart Gordon, chairman of the Science Committee, Todd Akin, Roscoe Bartlett, Phil Gingrey, Baron Hill, Bob Inglis, Dan Lipinski, Brad Miller, and Lynn Woolsey. There were six Science Committee Staff Members: Leigh Ann Brown, Louis Finkel, Jean Fruci, Richard Obermann, Elizabeth Stack, and Mele Williams. Military escorts were LCDR (Dr.) Ramiro Gutierrez, Maj. Eric Hommel, Chief Master Sargeant Joey DuPuis, Tech Sergeant Scott Watson, and Colonel Darrell Adams.
After landing we were quickly ushered into the airport. Temperatures, while not warm, especially in comparison to the hot and humid conditions we had just left in DC, were not particularly cold. A warm shirt and a wind breaker were sufficient.
We were met in the airport by an American diplomat from Denmark, Bill Mozdzierz. He is the third in the diplomatic chain of command in Denmark after the Ambassador and Vice Ambassador.
I talked to the customs official, who is Danish, at the airport for 10 or 15 minutes. Greenland is in the Danish Kingdom, which benefits Greenland to the tune of about $500 million per year. However the Greenlanders want independence and are moving deliberately in that direction. Greenland has a population of about 57,000.
The official described how good the fishing is in Greenland, and said that the airport was in a particularly inhospitable location, even for Greenland standards. The soil is very dry and dusty, temperatures get to -50 deg C, and the water has to be heavily filtered because the glaciers carry finely ground soil which causes damage to the kidney if ingested.
We lounged in the airport for a while waiting for the next plane to arrive, which would transport us to our destination: Ilulissat, a small fishing village about 125 miles north, in Disko Bay, and home to the fastest melting glacier in the world. The plane arrived, a red quad prop 25-seater. The flight was perfectly smooth and the view was excellent as we watched the coastal scenery change and glaciers and icebergs linger about.
The impact of the icebergs was evident from the air. The water surrounding the icebergs is a bluish, almost turquoise color. One of the scientists later referred to this as the iceberg bloom and said it was from copper. One of the Members on the trip said it was caused by organisms that have been trapped in the ice coming to life in the water. Actually, the temperature of the water there was just 29 deg F, just above freezing in the salt water.
The airport in Ilulissat was three miles or so from the town. Ilulissat is a town of a few thousand. The houses there all appeared similar with a wood frame (all of which is imported) and painted bright colors. It was difficult to see how they would stand up to the harsh winter, but maybe the winter there isn’t as bad as most of Greenland.
After breakfast, four American scientists arrived: Dr. Tad Pfefer of the University of Colorado, Dr. Roger Bales of the University of California, Merced, Dr. David Holland from NYU, and Dr. Stephen Warren from the University of Washington. Each of the scientists is an expert in some aspect of Greenland research funded by the National Science Foundation.
The four scientists were gracious, engaged, and anxious to answer questions and develop relationships with the Members. It was a pleasure to have them around, and they were with us for the remainder of our stay in Ilulissat.
After the science lesson, Aleqa Hammond, who serves as both Greenland’s Minister of Finance and Foreign Minister, arrived. She was very engaging and went around shaking hands with each Member. She then told us a little about Greenland, emphasizing that they desire independence and are moving in that direction, but acknowledging how they depend on Denmark. She addressed how global warming will adversely impact people who depend on the ice, but how it may benefit Greenland in terms of providing a good source of hydropower and tourism prospects.
Greenland is more European than American, but they desire a closer relationship with Canada and the United States. She commented that in Greenland they don’t know much about America except what they see on TV. She mentioned that they eat a lot of lean meat, which we would be sampling soon enough, and that may contribute to the fact that the death rate from heart-related problems there is low.
After eating lunch we took a helicopter up the fiord to the glacier. That particular glacier is melting faster than any in the world, about 1 km per year. The helicopter could only accommodate eight people and I was on the first trip. I rushed to my room to find my suitcase waiting, and changed to heavier clothes.
The helicopter was pretty tight with all of us on board but the view was spectacular. We flew to where the fiord empties into the ocean and then inward over a channel that was jam packed with icebergs. The scientists said the channel was about 3000 feet deep, but at the mouth where the fiord empties into the ocean was only 600 feet deep. The large icebergs jam up at the mouth of the channel and block the iceberg flow until they melt enough for the next big berg to block it again. The icebergs were all sizes and shapes, and many colors. Many looked like someone changed their car oil and just dumped the oil on top. This is because the glaciers tumble and scrape the earth and pick up soil, which also explains why the river water has too much ground soil to drink.
We saw a couple of waterfalls, which I videotaped, and finally reached the actual glacier line off of which icebergs were splitting, or “calving.” Even though this glacier is losing more mass per day than any other glacier in the world, it’s difficult to tell because it’s all happening under water or onto other ice already in the water. The most spectacular thing was during the return trip when the pilot flew very close to the icebergs. It was dramatic seeing them fast and close up. The seals sitting on the glacier fled when we got close, but just the sheer magnitude of ice and the fleeting beauty grabbed everyone on board.
We finished dinner at about 10:30 p.m., but it was still light. I missed the bus because I was out looking at Disko Bay and some igloos. The four scientists had also missed the bus so we walked back the couple of miles to the hotel, which was a good opportunity to get to know them. During our walk they asked me if knew the difference between hard and soft money. Hard money is paid to professors who are on permanent faculty at an institution. It is a more or less guaranteed salary for work including research, teaching, and other academic duties. Soft money is paid to researchers who basically live on grant money. They live from grant to grant with no job security. Hard money is much preferred. Two of our scientists were hard money and two were soft money.
The next morning we took boats into Disko Bay. There were three small boats, each holding about 8 members of the party including at least one scientist. On the water, we got as close as we could to the icebergs but held back from getting too close because icebergs are notoriously unpredictable. Large chunks often fall off and sometimes icebergs just explode.
Up close, we could hear the icebergs pop and make noise. We saw a small “calving,” or a chunk fall off. We could see streams of melt water running off the bergs, sometimes a rather large flow. Some bergs were smooth and clean, others were craggy. There is significant melting both above and below the water line. You can see water lines on bergs as warm air temperatures melt the surface and with reduced weight, the bergs rise up. The thing is that with uneven melting, the weight distribution becomes unbalanced and icebergs roll to establish a new equilibrium. The icebergs with smooth tops have rolled, with the now smooth exposed side having been underwater at one point in the past. Rolling can also be dramatic causing large waves. The boat captain, Bob, said he had been scuba diving under icebergs, which must be as dangerous as anything, but the underside of these large bergs are teeming with life.
After eating lunch we flew back to Kangerlussuaq. Once there we visited an NFS radar facility that was originally designed for the Department of Defense in Alaska, but is now used to study the upper atmosphere and the solar impact on it.
On the way back from dinner that night, several of us got out at a bridge over the glacier wash I mentioned before. The bridge covered a section of white water. Apparently, the glacier melt wasn’t just a trickle as it seemed from the air. The water was moving with some force and the bridge had been named after someone who had been killed by the water at that spot. The water was a tan-gray color, different from any river I had seen before.
The next morning, we left Kangerlussuaq for an uneventful flight back to Washington.
Spending time in Greenland makes it clear that global warming is in progress. The Greenlanders are acutely aware of it. As their climate warms, they see opportunities on which they will be able to capitalize. It will increase their growing season. They may be able to grow trees there sometime soon. Ecotourism will take off. But benefits for Greenland mean a conversely negative impact for many other parts of the world that are much more densely populated.
The outcome for the United States is not yet clear, though what is clear is that there is a threat to this country and our way of life if global warming is left unchecked. The near term threat comes in the form of drought, severe storms, and local economic devastation. The western part of the country is particularly susceptible to drought. California is facing a severe water crisis and the possible loss of the source of most of its fresh water in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta. The Gulf Coast and other coastal regions are facing more frequent and more severe hurricanes.
The United States is responsible for a large share of green house gas generation that has led to climate change. However, we can also be a leader in adapting real solutions to reducing greenhouse gas generation and in technical solutions to adaptation. Reducing the generation of greenhouse gas generation can be transformational. We can transform our economy to a healthier, sustainable economy that doesn’t depend on imported oil, and revitalizes the rural sectors of this country.
|
